Book-holder



(No Model.)

L. 0; NORRIS.

BOOK HOLDER.

N0. 361,316. Patented Apr. 19,-188'7.

Wtnesses T'" u. PETER; hbwlim iwlm Washington. D c,

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

LEHVIS C. NORRIS, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

BOOK-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,316, dated April 19, 1887.

Application filed February 17,1887. Serial No.2:21937. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, LEWIS O. Noanrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Book-Holders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to devicesfor holding books open and supporting them in position for reading, and for holding cards and other like objects for display; and it consists in certain improvements therein, as will be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

My device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as follows:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device, with a book represented in place thereon by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device, in which it is shown open, ready to receive a book, by full lines, and in the position it occupies when holding a book by dotted lines.

The device consists of the following parts: a back frame, A, a shelf, B, a cross-bar, B, a back brace, G, a stay-rod, G, and a front presser or holder, D. I

The several parts of the device are formed of wire, except the shelf B, which ispreferably of wood; but it may be of wire or a metal bar.

The back A consists of a piece of wire bent into a rectangular loop, with its lower ends wound into coils a' a, and the upper bar of the loop is bent into a small offset, as at a, to receive the back brace.

The shelf B is attached to the back by staples b b. (Seen in Fig. 2.) I

The crossbar B is a wire passing across the back and bent around its side pieces and then down to the shelf 13, where it is secured by staples, or otherwise.

The back brace prop or leg 0 is a simple straight wire, of proper length, looped around the top piece of the back in the offset a.

The stay 0 is a wire bent in the form of a Y and twisted in the stem or straight part,

leaving a loop at the end of the stem, which loop is bent into the form of an S and embraces the leg or prop O. The object in bending the loop-into an S form is to give a bearing at the points 1 and 2, so the stay when down, as shown in the figures, will bind upon the prop, but will be free to be raised up. The arms of the Y-shaped stay are formed with eyes at the end and are attached to the shelf B by staples, leaving the stay free to fold up against the back and carry the prop along with it.

The front presser consists of a wire which extends across the front of the book, and at each end is bent into the general form of a rocker, and then has its ends bent inwardly to form journals d, which are set into the coils a on the lower ends of the wire forming the back.

When the device is holding a book, as in Fig. 1, it rests upon the angles d of the front prcsser, and the presser is converted into a lever having its fulcrum at d, its power-point at d, and its weight along the straight rod in front of the book, and hence the weight of the book is the power which forces the presser against the pages and keeps the book open. When a leaf is to be turned, the user pulls the presser away from the front of the book and turns the leaf, and then lets go of the presser and it will at once act against the book.

I am aware that book-holders have been made of wire bent into the form of a frameas, for example, see patent to Hollaway, May 19, 1885, No. 3l8,253-and I do not claim as my invention such a device as is there shown.

What I claim as new is- 1. In a book-holder, the combination, with a back having a shelf to support the book and a prop to hold the back at a proper incline, of the rocking presser D, pivoted to the back and curved so as to have a bearing upon the table and upon the front of the book and so adjusted, as described, as to sustain the weight of the book.

2. p In a book-holder, the combination of the back A, formed of wire and having the coils a and offset a, the shelf and cross-rod B B,

attached to said back, the prop G, hung in said offset on the back, the stay 0, hung on the said shelf and sliding on the said prop, and

I of:

the presser D, hung to the back and formed In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in substantially as shown and having a bearing presence of two witnesses. on the table and on the front of the book.

3. The combination, with the prop O and LEWIS LORRIS' 5 the stay 0, of the loop 0', bent in the form of Witnesses:

an S, and having the bearing-points 1 and 2, R. H. PORTER,

as and for the purposes set forth. F. B. WIIIPPLE. 

